Michelle Jelawski (3:01)

Welcome to the Moth. I'm Michelle Jelawski, and on this episode, Liquid Nostalgia. We've got two stories about those fountains of childhood sugar, highs and summer memories, Bug juice and slushies. First up is Stacey Bader Curry, who told this at a New York City grand slam where the theme was without a net. Also, a quick side note. If your childhood didn't include bug juice and you're wondering what it is, think watered down Kool Aid. Here's Stacy live at Vermont.

Stacey Bader Curry (3:33)

Thank you. I am in the lake. I am in water up to my my chest. And I have a dilemma. In the middle of the lake, there is a floating dock. And on that dock is Kyle Peters. Now in fifth grade, Kyle Peters came up with us. The perfect nickname for me, Master Stacy. Master Bader. But now we're in sixth grade, and I don't know why, but I love him and I want to go on this dock with him. But all I know how to do is tread water and float on my back. Nothing that will actually propel me forward. But I decide I'm going to float on my back and hope some kind of lake current will take me there. And as soon as I flip onto my back, I forget all about Kyle Peters because that water, it's so warm, it's so relaxing. But then I start to hear this sound, and it sounds like beep, beep, beep. And I'm ignoring it, but it gets louder and louder. And finally I open my eyes and I realize I'm in my bed and I am ignoring my alarm clock. And I am not lying in this luscious lake, but in a pool of my own pee. And this is not good, because later that morning, I am to go with my entire grade on our first school overnight to Fairview Lake. And everyone is very excited about this. There's going to be a bonfire and s'. Mores, and there's rumors that they have bug juice at Fairview Lake. And I don't know what bug juice is, but it sounds delicious. And I have never gone one night of my entire life without wetting the bed. And I just know that Kyle Peters is not going to want to marry a chronic bedwetter. So I try everything to combat this bedwetting, and nothing Works, but it's too late. I'm on a bus with a bunch of sixth graders singing centerfold, and I've got no plan B. I. I am just going to not wet the bed out of sheer determination and a commitment to not drink the bug juice. Friends, I drank the bug juice. I blame the s'. Mores. They were overrated and dry. And I wake up the next morning and I'm in the lower bunk of a cabin with 15 of my female classmates and they're running around and laughing and cleaning up and packing up as we were instructed to do before breakfast. And I am lying in a pool of my own pee and I don't dare move from my sleeping bag. I play possum and I just want everyone to leave so I can clean up on my own. But there are two stragglers. And I hear from across the cabin, hey, master, get up, you're going to miss breakfast. And I say, ah, I'm not feeling well. And they say, oh, we'll go get the teacher. And I say, no, no one can know about my bedwetting. And there's a tinge of fear in my voice, which piques their curiosity, and they move closer to me and they say, well, get out of bed then. And I don't know what to do. I feel trapped. I hate myself. I hate my frizzy hair. I hate that I'm bow legged, I hate that we're poor. I ha that I'm Jewish because none of my friends are Jewish. And I hate that I am 11 and I still wet the bed. And if I could go back in time, I would tell myself it's all going to be fine. One day you'll actually like your curly hair and being Jewish. And one day you'll get this random follow request on Instagram from Kyle Peters and you'll accept it. And he'll proceed to like and every single one of your pictures and you'll never like one of his. And yeah, and one day you will wake up and you won't have done a thing, but you'll be dry. You'll be 14 and a half. But it's okay. Middle school sucks for everyone. But I'm glad future me wasn't there to swoop in and rescue me, because I figured something out. I figured out that I can MacGyver my way out of any situation with a little fucking creativity because I realized that I can use being weird and different and none of my friends were Jewish, which meant that none of my friends had any idea of what it meant to be Jewish except for what I told them. So before I lost my nerve, I slid out of that sleeping bag and with my back to the bunk I said to those two girls, did you guys know that in the Jewish faith it is tradition that you flip your mattress when you sleep someplace new? And they just looked at me like really? And I was like yeah. And with one deft movement I lifted up that blue ticking stripe mattress and thank God it did not leak through. And then with the other hand I whipped out my sleeping bag and flipped the mattress all the way over and they just went weird and they left and I crumbled my sleeping bag and shoved it into my duffel bag and I cleaned up and I joined all my classmates for pancakes and bug juice. Thank you.

Michelle Jelawski (9:43)

That was Stacey Bader Curry. Stacy is a ten time Moth Slam winner, teacher, mother, wife and writer living in Cape Elizabeth, Maine and she wants you to know if you're wondering that she still hasn't liked any of Kyle Peters Instagram posts. After the break, A story about slightly plushies and unexpected friendship. Be back in a moment.

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Michelle Jelawski (12:05)

Welcome back. Denzel Jobson told our next story at a New York City story slam, where the theme of the night was happy accidents. Here's Denzel live at the Moth.

Denzel Jobson (12:21)

The transition to middle school, it's pretty shitty. And so starting sixth grade in Brooklyn, if you're from New York, first of all, you go from taking the cheese bus that picks you up at your house to taking the mta. And the MTA is scary as an adult. So imagine when you're doing that at 11 years old. Also at 11, I was really skinny, and I wasn't athletic, and I didn't play any sports, which is how a lot of boys bond. And I was really into Japanese comics. Cool now, not cool in 2005. And then the final thing that really put the nail in the coffin was I had horrible acne in sixth grade. And every time the teacher called on me in class, my classmates would shout out pizza face. And the teachers would laugh. They weren't wrong. So sixth grade was, like, really lonely, and I was nerdy and I didn't really have any friends. But the reprieve came in the spring. You know, it's hot in New York in the spring. And every day after school, the ice cream truck, Mr. Softy shout out would be, like, posted outside the school, which, in retrospect is maybe a little creepy. But school would let out and, like, all the kids would bum rush Mr. Softy. And we'd just, like. It'd be chaos around the truck, and we're trying to get our money out, but also not get robbed and get ice cream. And I'm like, one day, it's in the spring, I'm like, finally make it to the front of the line, and I get a cherry slushie because it's just liquid sugar, and that's all you want at 11, and I'm getting out of line. I have this red slushie, and I turn around, and I spill the entire slushie on a guy behind me who's wearing a black leather jacket. So it's just this black jacket and, like, red cherry puree, like, falling down his jacket. It literally looks like he just murdered someone. And then it's not. It's just silent. And then, like, the school, you know, all of our classmates form a circle around us, which is always a bad sign in middle school. And so I look up, and the guy I spilled a slushie on was Raphael. And Raphael was a school jock. He was the boy that, like, every boy wanted to be and every girl wanted to be with. And I'm looking at him, and I'm scared as shit, because I think he's gonna beat my ass. And then, as per middle school fashion, someone shouts out, beat his ass, Raph. Fuck him up. And so he's got, like, his school rep to protect. And I'm looking at him, and he's looking at his jacket. And I ran home. I'm Jamaican. My Usain Bolt came out. I had never run home before. I didn't know I could find my way home. But I ran home, and, like, no one's behind me. So I turn around, and Raph is still in the same spot, looking down at his jacket. And I'm thinking, he's gonna kill me tomorrow. So I'm like, I get home, I tell my mom what happened. Like, I don't want to go to school tomorrow. Obviously, I'm going to school. And so the next day, I'm thinking, okay, but there are teachers at school. Like, they'll protect me, right? It'll be fine. So I walk to the bus stop, and Rafael's at the bus stop, right? And so I'm thinking, either he, like, tracked me down, or he just lives in the neighborhood. And I don't know which one's worse. And so he sees me, and, you know, I just pretend I don't see him. But he starts walking towards me, and he gets up into my face, and I just turn up. I apologize. I'm like, man, I'm so sorry. Like, it was an accident. I'll buy you another jacket. And he's just, like, looking at my hand, and he's, like, just staring at what I have in my hand. And then he asked me a question that just, like, changed the course of my life forever. He says, you fuck with Naruto? Because I had a Naruto comic in my hand. And I answer him, I'm like do I fuck with Naruto? I am Naruto. Way cooler. Or not nearly as cool in retrospect. Where do you remember that? But we go to school together and on a 15 minute bus ride we just talk about Naruto and anime and it's awesome. And for the rest of the school year we go to school together and go home together every single day. Just like talking about anime and life and girls and all the stuff you do. And at the end of school year, I realized I've made a friend. And over the next three years of middle school, we become best friends. There are sleepovers at each other's houses, our parents become best friends, and then we're there for the best and worst moments in each other's lives. Somehow through Raph, I become cool. I'm prom king at the end of middle school, which is weird but awesome. And our duo turns into a trio, then a quartet and then it's like motley crew of prepubescent boys just taking on the world. It's like very Stranger Things esque, minus the monsters. And then life goes on and Raphael and I aren't in each other's lives anymore. But I think back to just like that moment where these two boys who probably never would have been friends, but just like happenstance, like running outside Mr. Softy's ice cream truck leads to some of my happiest childhood memories. So shout out to Rafael and Mr. Softy. Thank you.

Michelle Jelawski (18:09)

That was Denzel Jobson, born and raised in Canarsie, Brooklyn, where everyone makes it up as they go. Denzel loves a good story. He's been going to Moth story slam since 2018 and his name was finally picked out of the Hat in 2025. He believes wholeheartedly that the happy accidents of life are where we discover our best selves. That brings us to the end of our episode. Thanks so much for joining us. From all of us here at the Moth, we hope your summer is filled with wonderful memories and that you avoid brain flowers.

Mark Solinger (18:40)

Michelle Jalowski is a director at the Moth, where she helps people craft and shape their stories for stages all over the world. This episode of the Moth podcast was produced by Sarah Austin, Janess, Sarah Jane Johnson and me, Mark Solinger. The rest of the Moth leadership team include Sarah Haberman, Christina Norman, Marina Clouche, Jennifer Hickson, Jordan Cardinale, Kate Tellers, Suzanne Rust and Patricia Urenia. The Moth Podcast is presented by Odyssey. Special thanks to their executive producer, Leah Rhys Dennis. All Moth stories are true as remembered by their storytellers for more about our podcast, information on pitching your own story and everything else, go to our website, themoth.org.